Thin polymer films patterned on glass, semiconductor, and plastic substrates are useful in microelectronics, optics, catalysis, and medical diagnostics. Conventional and more specialized (e.g., topographically-directed and near-field contact mode) photolithography techniques for patterning polymers are limited because they are not compatible with a large number of heat- and light-sensitive polymers and substrates. E-beam writing and laser ablation are capable of patterning a wider range of materials than photolithography, but are inherently non-parallel and slow. Several techniques, such as solvent assisted micro-molding (SAMIM) and micro-molding in capillaries (MIMIC), both based on soft lithography, can pattern a diverse set of organic films and polymers into arbitrary geometries. Nanoimprint lithography, step and flash lithography, and capillary force lithography fabricate features in a polymer substrate defined from a topographically patterned stamp (typically PDMS). Although many techniques for patterning polymers films are available, additional methods that would enable patterning of a wide range of materials on a variety of substrates would find application in a number of different fields.